Sainz Jr was confirmed as Verstappen's team-mate following the Abu Dhabi test, replacing Jean-Eric Vergne. With Daniil Kvyat moving up to Red Bull it marks an all-new driver line-up at Toro Rosso and despite Verstappen having previously said he would like Vergne to have stayed he insisted it won't change how difficult his maiden F1 season is.

"This job is always hard, there is so much to learn and you have to use all your concentration in order to get the best out of the car and of yourself," Verstappen told Crash.net. "At the end, it's not so important who your team mate is, as you have to rely only on yourself."